Lawmakers, Citizen Groups Reach Deal on Congressional Redistricting

A deal has been reached to reform the way Ohio’s congressional district map is drawn, after weeks of difficult negotiations between Republicans, Democrats, and a citizens group that wanted to put its own plan on the fall ballot. The map drawing power stays with state lawmakers but under new rules.

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Redistricting deal

In this proposal, the first three attempts by state lawmakers to draw a map require buy-in from the minority party. If a fourth round is needed, the majority can pass a map with strict requirements to avoid partisan gerrymandering. Right now Ohio has 12 Republican and 4 Democratic members of Congress, but Ohio will likely lose a seat in the next census.

A coalition of citizens’ groups was pushing its own ballot issue to change Congressional redistricting. The coalition’s Heather Taylor-Miesle says this sets Ohio up for a fairer map after the next census.

“I think in 2022 you’re gonna see a lot more competitive districts people are not going to be able to take their citizens for granted anymore," Taylor-Miesle says.

The proposal must be approved by lawmakers before going to the May ballot.

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Closed-door negotiations over a new way to draw Ohio’s Congressional map have broken down. Statehouse Correspondent Jo Ingles reports lawmakers and representatives from citizens’ groups left the Statehouse late last night without coming to an agreement.

An Ohio Senate committee is set to consider a plan Tuesday devised by legislative leaders to change the way Ohio’s Congressional district map is drawn. Some key lawmakers have been behind closed doors trying to hammer out an agreement with minority Democrats to get enough of their buy-in to make passage viable.

Democrats are opposed to the plan offered by Republicans in the Senate, because they say it would still allow gerrymandering.

State lawmakers and some backers of a citizen-led initiative to change the way Ohio's Congressional map is drawn continue to hammer out an agreement on a new plan behind closed doors.

Republican Senate President Larry Obhof says he believes there’s hope that a deal can be reached on a plan that would be acceptable to lawmakers and to the citizens’ groups that want to put their redistricting plan on the November ballot.